Posted By:

BUFFALO, N.Y. - It turns out the first company to benefit from the $1 billion commitment to Buffalo has lost $112 million over the past three years.

Albany Molecular Research will be able to use lab space on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and equipment purchased by New York State.

Jim Heaney and Dan Tevlock with Investigative Posthave also found that AMRI has failed to post a profit since 2008, has laid off 80 employees since 2010 and closed a facility in Europe.

When contacted, Empire State Development did not provide anyone for an interview, but did provide a statement that reads in part:

"The $50 million that Governor Cuomo announced is NOT being invested in Albany Molecular Research Inc., a publicly traded company, but rather the state is providing $35M to the SUNY Research Fund for equipment and $15M to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus for the appropriate build out of the existing space.

"To put it simply, AMRI will basically be a tenant. Regarding the company's financial status you may be aware that AMRI has in excess of $150,000,000 market capitalization, which means that analysts and investors value their future prospects highly. The pharmaceutical industry is all about the drug discovery pipeline and most people know that drug discovery and regulatory approval is a long process. Short term ups and downs in earnings don't measure the future of any pharmaceutical company, but the market capitalization does.

"This is confirmed by the fact that the company's stock is at a 52-week high. Also, I believe some of their closings were overseas, and there is a global trend in fact to re-shore production back in the U.S, which is good. This is a substantial company with hundreds of millions of dollars in sales, and over 1,000 employees, and they are going to add great value to Buffalo and the BNMC, which is excited to have a drug discovery/research company locating there."